"Miss!" the butler exclaimed in alarm, striding quickly into the bedroom and into the bathroom, pushing the bathroom door open with force.
Inside the bathroom, Qian Xueying lay next to the window, wrapped only in a bath towel.
The butler, concerned, moved quickly to help her up. He hadn’t even touched her when she grabbed his arm.
"Let go of me... let go..."
Qian Xueying cried out in alarm, and the butler, taken aback, saw her smirk and push him forward. The butler hadn’t understood what was happening when he fell toward the bathroom window.
There was a crash as the glass shattered, and the butler’s body flew out, landing heavily on a sculpture in the garden outside. His body twitched, and blood began to pour from his mouth and nose.
Qian Xueying wrapped the towel tightly around herself and rushed downstairs.
By then, the servants and bodyguards of the Duke Residence had gathered, and screams came from the maids at the sight of the butler.
"How is he?" Qian Xueying asked, wrapped in a blanket.
A bodyguard checked the butler’s carotid pulse and shook his head gently.
Qian Xueying was stunned, then collapsed weakly to her knees on the grass. "It’s all my fault... it’s all my doing..."
Several maids rushed to support her.
"What on earth happened, Miss?" the head bodyguard asked.
"He..." Qian Xueying clutched the blanket tighter, "I was taking a shower just now, and he... he suddenly burst in, and wanted... I... I just pushed him away reflexively, I didn’t expect..."
She spoke through sobs, her entire being quavering, her face wet with tears, looking pitiful.
Everyone looked at her, clad only in a towel, with fresh bruises, seemingly from being grabbed, on her arms... and then at the butler’s body, immediately understanding that perhaps the butler had tried to take advantage of her and accidentally was pushed out the window by her.
"Who would have thought, with his respectable facade, he would be such a despicable person."
"Exactly, he got what he deserved!"
The others immediately began to spit scornfully.
"Impossible," the cook ran over, "the butler wasn’t that kind of man!"
"So..." Qian Xueying, tears running down her face, raised her head, "are you saying that I... I wronged him?"
The cook was at a loss for words.
In the Duke’s Residence, Qian Xueying was known for her gentle nature, treating everyone without airs and winning hearts.
Now, who would doubt her words, especially since the butler was already dead? The cook might feel that the butler wasn’t a vile person, but without evidence, what could she say?
"The butler has worked for the Duke Residence for so many years, and we, the Locke family, won’t treat him unfairly. Tomorrow, issue a check for five million and send it to his family..." Qian Xueying, wrapped in the blanket, stood up straight, "About tonight’s incident, let’s not publicize it, I... I don’t want others to ridicule the Locke family. Dad is sleeping, don’t disturb him, I’ll tell him tomorrow morning."
The crowd responded in unison.
With Duke indisposed and the butler dead, Qian Xueying now had the final say in the Duke Residence, and who would dare disobey her orders?
With narrowed eyes observing the dead butler, Qian Xueying wiped her tears and, supported by several maids, went upstairs, still weeping.
"It’s all my fault... If only I..."
"Miss, don’t say that. Scumbags like him got what they deserved, it’s not anyone else’s fault."
"Exactly, it’s because the Duke is unwell and you’re all alone that he dared to do such a thing."